Newsmakers Series Hosts Another Stellar Cast in April

April 5th, 2012

Patrick Henry College is pleased to announce the fourth installment of the Newsmakers Interview Series with Marvin Olasky, April 12-18. Over the course of the academic year, Dr. Olasky, the College’s Distinguished Chair in Journalism and Public Policy, has conducted three week-long interview series with newsmakers such as Karen Handel, former senior vice president of the Komen Foundation, former education czar Bill Bennett, and pioneering neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. In the upcoming series, to be webcast live from The Barbara Hodel Center Coffeehouse, Dr. Olasky will be discussing the pressing issues weighing on each newsmaker, while exploring how the interviewees grew up and discovered their respective callings.

Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute

Kicking off the live web-casted events this coming Thursday, April 12, at noon, is Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C. Brooks spent about 20 years as a professional French horn player before pursuing his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1994. He received his Ph.D. in policy analysis from RAND Graduate School in 1998. Brooks was a professor of business and government policy at Syracuse University from 2001 to 2009, where his research focused on the connections between economics, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. He is the author of several books on topics ranging from philanthropy, to happiness, to free enterprise. His forthcoming book, The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise, will be released in May.

Congressman Frank Wolf

Monday, April 16, at 11:20 a.m., Author Richard Platt. Richard Platt has loved the “music of language” all of his life, and, as a contributor to the literary quarterly Slightly Foxed, he earned critical praise for his one-man play, Ripples from Walden Pond: An Evening with Henry David Thoreau. He has studied and volunteered at The Kilns, C.S.Lewis’ former home in Oxford. His new book, As One Devil to Another, is a modern-day sequel to C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. According to leading C.S. Lewis expert Walter Hooper, “It reads as if Lewis himself had written it.” In the novel, a series of letters between devils reveal a frighteningly accurate perspective on how issues such as contemporary technology and sexual mores are interwoven with timeless matters such as the power of prayer, the purpose of suffering and the promises held out by Heaven . . . and Hell.

Monday, April 16, at 12:40 p.m., Congressman Frank Wolf. Congressman Wolf is serving his 16th term in Congress where he sits on the House Appropriations Committee as well as several subcommittees. He served from 1995 to 2000 as the chairman of the Transportation Appropriations subcommittee. Congressman Wolf has long been a leading crusader for human rights, both in the international sphere and in the United States, believing that those in Congress have an obligation to speak on behalf of the persecuted. Among many topics of national and international concern, Congressman Wolf will be discussing issues of human rights and religion with Dr. Olasky, focusing on the persecution of Christians around the world.

Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy

Tuesday, April 17, at noon, Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. Gallagher is the founding, former president of the National Organization for Marriage, which was launched in 2007 to fight the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. She has authored several books and numerous articles concerning marriage and the problems inherent in the sexual revolution. Now the president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Gallagher will explore with Dr. Olasky the connections between marriage, law and society, particularly the state of marriage under both heterosexual and homosexual assault.

Wednesday, April 18, at noon, Jim Liske, CEO of Prison Fellowship. Jim Liske served as the senior pastor of Ridge Point Community Church in Michigan for nine years before taking over CEO responsibilities from Prison Fellowship’s founder, Chuck Colson. Liske served previously with his church’s ministry to released prisoners, assisting with employment and transitioning back into the community. Liske and Prison Fellowship share a passion to show Christ’s compassion and transforming grace to those in the criminal justice system, and Dr. Olasky will be querying Liske on themes of compassion and criminal justice, including both how to help prisoners and how to take a bite out of crime.

Please join us in The Barbara Hodel Center Coffeehouse or tune in to the live webcast each day for yet another intriguing and challenging week of interviews with Dr. Marvin Olasky and this week’s line-up of newsmakers.